Your Nothing's My Everything
by Echotrail
Summary: Iceglade gasped in horror, her blood running cold. She was frozen on the spot. Her legs refused to move. Her heart had stopped completely. The pungent smell of blood filled the air, turning the forest acrid with its scent of death. He turned to face her, the emotionless orbs that were his eyes locked with hers, and the only thing the terrified she-cat would manage was, "Why?"
1. Chapter 1

The long, steep path leading up to the camp had never felt this long.

Iceglade sighed, her eyes downcast and fixated on her paws as she slowly trudged up the path lined with imprints of cat paws that had sunk deep into the mud. The smell in the air was calm and damp as a heavy fog rolled in off the coast after a quarter-moon of nothing but heavy rain.

The grassy, rolling hills that lined the sides of the cliff's sloping and gently curving sides were drenched in small droplets of rain water. A spider's web, meticulously built with the arachnid's finest, silky and nearly transparent thread was dotted with droplets of rain, their reflective surfaces casting small spectrums over her bulky black body as she crawled across its surface, waiting for her next meal.

Iceglade shifted her dull, downcast eyes up to stare ahead blankly as the path came to a gradual end. She knew what was coming and what sort of trouble she'd be in.

She cautiously glanced over at her best friends, Crookedshadow, Distantpeak, and Needlesong as they trudged along with her, all of them looking either upset, disappointed, aggravated, or everything all at once.

Iceglade cleared her throat. "Needlesong?" she asked in a polite voice.

"What?" The brown and black mottled she-cat asked, narrowing her eyes.

Iceglade cringed slightly, hoping for a better response from her friend. "Is your leg okay?" She questioned in a small, quiet voice, her gaze falling on her back right leg which was twisted at a painful looking angle and oozing slightly with crimson red blood.

"What do you _think_? I got attacked by a badger, Iceglade! A _badger_!" she snapped, stumbling as Distantpeak helped her walk by allowing her to lean against his shoulder.

Crookedshadow shot the she-cat a cold glance and came to stand closer to Iceglade. "Need I remind you that it wasn't her fault that you decided we go wandering out of the camp so late at night?" He growled.

Needlesong went silent for a moment, her breathing slightly laboured from the effort it took to limp up the incline. "I never said it was her fault... When did it become your priority to be so protective of her anyways?" She grumbled.

"Since you started taking your anger out on her like an insecure little kit." he replied suavely, brushing his tail across Iceglade's back quickly while glaring at Needlesong coldly.

Needlesong grunted but didn't say anything more as they finally reached the top of the steep hill.

When the reached the top, all four cats looked down at their clan camp. Below them spread a lush green forest, dense treetops obscuring the inside of it almost completely. A small, winding path led into the thick forest. It was a bit worn down, but the tall grass that grew along the side of the hill covered most of it, making it look like nothing had ever even passed through. That was the way the clan always liked to stay; hidden from everything and everyone else.

Crookedshadow led the way down, followed by Iceglade, then Distantpeak and Needlesong.

For the rest of the way, no one said anything more to one another. Whether it was because none of them wanted to bring up their misadventure again, or because they were all too exhausted to say anything at all was uncertain.

When the foursome reached the large Twoleg stone ruins in which their Clan had made their camp, Crookedshadow suddenly spoke up.

"Now then," He started, turning towards the others. "Distantpeak, you take Needlesong to the Medicine Cat den and see if Sootpelt can fix her up. No one is to speak of what happened. If anyone asks, simply tell them that Needlesong got attacked _in_ the SlateClan territory. Not out. Understood?"

All three of them nodded and dispersed.

Iceglade fell into place beside Crookedshadow and sighed, her head hanging low as her eyes were fixated on the ground beneath her paws. "It's all my fault." She mumbled, screwing her eyes shut tightly. "If I had just stayed with the group and _listened_ for once, then Needlesong would be fine, and we wouldn't even be in this situation right now."

"Hey, it's alright..." Crookedshadow meowed in a soothing tone. "It wasn't your fault that badger attacked Needlesong. In fact, you saved her life by pulling off that stunt. She has you to thank that she still _has_ her leg!" He sat down beside his friend and smiled softly at her.

Iceglade sighed heavily, a tiredness her her greyish-blue orbs. "Still, it's my fault that it happened." she muttered in a somber voice.

"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will seem much better after you get some rest." Crookedshadow purred, flicking his thick, black-tipped tail towards the Warrior den where most of the cats were still sleeping, as Sunup had just barely begun.

"Hmm, I hope so." Iceglade grumbled indifferently, stalking off into the Warrior den, falling onto her side to finally get some rest.

Maybe Crookedshadow was right, and things would seem better in the morning. They couldn't get any worse...

Right?

* * *

_Greetings, darlings! _

_Let me start off my apologizing for not updating in what seems like a lifetime. I have been a little preoccupied with my other, more personal writings, as well as the meticulous task of homework, school, and of course, the odd role play. _

_Anyways, enough about that, this is a new story I wanted to get started on for quite some time now, and I just wanted to just take a little breather from Counting Every Echo at the moment. (As I have a terrible case of writer's block on that at the moment.) _

_But other then that, I hope you all enjoyed this wasp nest of dialogue, and I promise, things will get interesting very soon. _

_P.S: For anyone wondering, yes, this is taking place in the Counting Every Echo world. As all my stories pretty much do, considering that more will be published, and each of them, if you look closely enough, will hint at one another and possible even connect in major ways. _

_If you survived this massive author's note, then I tip my hat to you! xD _

_~Ciao _


	2. Chapter 2

Iceglade grumbled as she felt something prod at her side. It felt as if she had just closed her eyes only to be woken up within seconds. She hated mornings.

"Iceglade, wake up! We're going hunting, and if you don't hurry up we'll leave you behind!" A gentle, high-pitched voice said into her ear, obviously Littleberry.

Sighing, Iceglade opened her eyes and looked up at a small black she-cat with dancing orange eyes. "To be honest, I don't mind being left behind... I'm quite tired, you see." Iceglade admitted in a tired tone, her eyelids drooping shut.

Littleberry huffed in exasperation and poked Iceglade's belly with her petite paw, a determined look on her face. "Come on, come on! We need to catch prey for the clan and we need all the help we can get." Littleberry leaned down, a hopeful grin on her face. "_Pleeeeeease_?"

With a groan and a tired smile, Iceglade sat up, pushing Littleberry aside. "Alright, alright. I'm up, see?"

Practically bounding with joy, Littleberry nodded quickly. "Now hurry, the others are getting impatient and your fur looks like you haven't groomed it in moons!" she stated bluntly, darting out of the Warrior den excitedly.

Iceglade chuckled and shook her head. That was Littleberry for you; she had the energy of three cats and the body of an apprentice. Iceglade simply wished she had that sort of energy. Then again, perhaps she would if she had gotten the proper rest the night before.

After quickly grooming and smoothing out her fur and making it look presentable, Iceglade trotted out into the camp.

Sun shone through the nooks and holes in the tree branches and parted its way through the leaves to dapple the soil in its warm and golden rays. The air smelt of freshly blooming flowers; honeysuckles and magenta coloured heather, and buzzed with the hum of insects and the voices of other cats.

"Iceglade, come on!" Littleberry chirped, darting over to Iceglade's side excitedly before turning and prancing back to the other Warriors who were headed out to hunt; Distantpeak, Whitethorn, and Crookedshadow.

"Nice of you to finally wake up." Crookedshadow teased, lightly shoving Iceglade's side as she strode up to them.

Iceglade tilted her head questioningly. "How are you not in the lest bit tired?" She muttered under her breath as the cats began to make their way out of the camp.

Crookedshadow faltered for a moment. "Oh," he started, glancing around quickly. "Probably because I got a lot of rest yesterday." He replied, his eyes refusing to look into Iceglade's.

Iceglade nodded lightly but felt as if Crookedshadow wasn't telling her the entire story. She opened her mouth to say something more, when she was interrupted by Littleberry who was leading the hunting patrol.

"_Quiet_!" she hissed under her breath, her tail held erect as it began to bristle.

The air around the five cats suddenly grew very still. The birds ceased their chirps and calls. The insects has seemingly stopped their frantic buzzing and humming altogether. Even the sun's warm light suddenly felt very cold as each cat stood frozen in place.

Then, the smell reached each of them all at once. Dog.

At that very moment, as if summoned by the fear and dismay from the cats, a large, well-muscled beast with a pelt the colour of mud and earth trotted through the brambles of a blackberry bush, its nose to the ground as it huffed and panted.

Iceglade and the others were immediately thankful, as they all stood on a rising ledge-like path that wound around the side of a steep dirt cliff, at about the height of the tree branches.

"We should head back to camp and warn the others..." Whitethorn whispered to the others, his pale blue eyes wide with a mixture of both fear and panic.

"No. If we head back they'll surely follow our scent and follow us back to the camp." Littleberry instructed in a surprisingly calm tone. "We're still upwind, and if we keep a safe distance from the dog then we'll be able to pass through safely. Dogs may be strong, but they're dreadfully stupid and even if it _does_ manage to scent us out and tries to chase us it won't be able to get up this steep of an incline."

Iceglade's fur began to bristle. "Something tells me there's more than one dog." She murmured.

Each cat stole another glance back down at the dog, and their hearts stopped. Iceglade was right. There wasn't just one dog...

There was a pack.

* * *

_Greetings, darlings!_

_I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and thank you to those who reviewed! The next chapter will hopefully be along soon, but I don't want to really put a specific date on it in case something comes up._

_P.S: I have nothing against dogs, I am a dog lover myself, but this is all from a cat's point of view, so... xD _

_~Until next time, my loyal readers!_


End file.
